CHICAGO, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Tim Murray and the folks at the Briar Patch have achieved 230% gains in the first three years of their portfolio with a compound annual growth rate of 49%! The view from the Briar Patch sets a deliberate and resolute path moving from cash ONLY when a security position is more attractive. Check out their market musings and profitable advice in the commentary provided for Zacks.com's Featured Expert Column. For the complete report and more in-depth market commentary, visit featuredexpert.zacks.com

Thursday morning, October 25, 2001 -- What a hell of a day to post an expert opinion on the stock market. In football terms, we feel like two sports writers for the same paper in the press box watching a tie game at the beginning of the fourth quarter. It is late and there will be a rush to get the story of the game done for the early morning editions. To be sure that they will have a story, the two writers flip a coin to let them write separate stories saying why each team was victorious. They both know that one of their stories will be out the window at the end of the game, but the paper will have a story. Somebody won and somebody lost.

We currently own the well managed Alabama based AmSouth ASO, which is a large regional that yields 4.8%. In the very small size banks, we also own TIB Financial TIBB, yield of 3.6%, based in the Florida Keys and expanding into the Naples area. TIB is very thinly traded so use limit orders and be patient.

Our favorite long-term speculation continues to be KVH Industries KVHI. They have a strong balance sheet, excellent management and interesting new products still in the R&D phase. The Low Profile satellite antenna for SUVs is very promising and their military business is getting a boost from the current situation.

Although we don't own any oil patch stocks at the moment, we expect to be buying them on dips. We like Energy Partners EPL and Pure Resources PRS.

We have recently started buying the retailer Bombay Company BBA. Again it has a strong balance sheet with fresh and good management. The Book Value is $4.50 a share with about $3 in current assets. Over the last few years they have greatly improved their stores out of cash flow.

On bulges we would go short Kohl's KSS, eBay EBAY and Lowe's LOW. Not so good old faded roses like Cisco CSCO are also good shorts. Their current advance should top out in early November.

Be sure to read the rest of the article to learn all the stocks this investment expert is currently recommending. featuredexpert1.zacks.com

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When discussion of satellite telephones comes up, it's difficult not to think of two great business disasters of recent years, Iridium and Globalstar.

Iridium, backed mainly by Motorola , flamed out financially and almost did so literally as well: a consortium of investors had to save its orbiting satellites from burning up in the atmosphere last December. Then a $72 million contract with the Pentagon pumped some life into the service's new owner, Iridium Satellite LLC. ADVERTISEMENT

Then there's Iridium's unlucky rival Globalstar , still limping along with a stock price below $1 a share. In its most recent quarter the company reported a $145 million loss on sales of $2.3 million. But with only $98 million in cash and cash equivalents at the time it reported its earnings in August, it may find itself soon crashing to Earth.

But then there's Inmarsat. Founded more than 20 years ago as a cooperative organization run by 64 governments to provide satellite communications for ships, it's evolved into a United Kingdom-based private company that has flirted with going public. Since Sept. 11 it has been doing a brisk business with international TV news organizations, who are using its network to transmit video phone images from places as remote as Kabul and Khandahar.

If you're in the shipping business, or even just have a big boat from which you'd like to maintain a telephone link, chances are you'll be using a phone connected to the Inmarsat network, which has nine satellites circling the globe.

One company in the business of selling phones which work on Inmarsat is KHV Industries , a Rhode Island-based firm that also makes tactical navigation systems for military vehicles. It's not a profitable business; on Oct. 23 KVH reported a $1.6 million loss on sales of $7.9 million for the quarter. But its stock price has been up lately, from about $4 a share in early October, to more than $6 last week.

One week ago it announced a new phone aimed at marine users who need to stay connected when at sea. The Tracphone 252 is suitable for boats as small as 35 feet, supporting voice calls, fax, data and email capabilities. The system has interfaces for additional phones, a fax machine and a PC. Different types of incoming calls are routed to the appropriate device. It also supports secure usage and accountability with a smart-card system that can track who called which numbers.

That kind of connection does comes with a price. KVH sells the phone system for about $6,000. Plus there's the hefty Inmarsat service charges. But if you have to stay connected, it's probably worth it.

I agree with your assessment of KVH's target markets, many of which are quite lucrative even with a minor market share... especially for a company the size of KVH. It amazes me that we can go from $4+ to $7+ in three weeks with only the quarterly earnings and marine internet announcements for impetus.

One month of the quarter gone now, and no word on the first of the completed initiatives. The current sensor announcement nears, and although it may be a relatively boring side of the company business when compared to optical and antenna arenas, it will be a good base business that should provide reasonably consistent revenue and profits for the foreseeable future. A very good start.

<<It amazes me that we can go from $4+ to $7+ in three weeks with only the quarterly earnings and marine internet announcements for impetus.>>

Well, many people would rather pay $6-$7 AFTER positive news, than $4+ before (even though serious DD could have predicted something like this). They didn't want to "risk" sticking money in a stock that wasn't moving. They would rather play the momentum. The problem is, just establishing a decent position that way moves this stock higher. That is the price paid for reduced risk - and also our reward for taking that risk the past year. <g>

Exactly True. In effect the space between 7-4 was artificial, it was an abberration in that it was low due to the opportunity taken by the MM to give the Insider trying to lighten up less for those shares. They were buying right. Price suppression of most small caps is less related to Fundamental analysis, and more a function of Opportunity to wear down the hundreds of small investors who cumulatively own a lot of the free float in this company. Look around, thinly traded issues are worked differently than those who have much liquidity. Stocks like KVHI are not on the radar screens of investors unless a particular investor is deliberately seeking to find undiscovered gems them and are willing and able to do their own discovery.

There wont be coverage on this stock for a long time, there will be an event which makes it move up, and once that event is underway the stock will move fueled by momentum to a level where additional Liquidity can be created. If we are lucky, KVHI fits the profile of a company who could split twice in a six month period. As sales and profitabliity expand, Liquidity needs to be created.